hotmtlnovel Chapter 19 It's Time to Leave
Chapter 19 It's Time to Leave
Wild boar meat isn't very tasty.
Lu Siye chewed the meat in his mouth, his face expressionless.
The meat was very tough, with fibers as coarse as hemp rope; it took a long time to swallow a bite.
It also had a distinct earthy smell, as if the meat had been mixed with mud that hadn't been properly cleaned before being roasted.
But it's still better than wild vegetables.
Xiang Dingkun certainly has a knack for seasoning.
He sliced the wild boar meat into thin slices, rubbed it with salt, sprinkled it with some grass leaves, marinated it for half an hour, and then roasted it over a fire.
It was still dry, but at least it wasn't fishy anymore, and the crispy edges even smelled a bit fragrant.
The two people sat on the threshold, each holding a piece of meat, eating slowly.
Feifei squatted at Xiang Dingkun's feet, with a few pieces of torn meat in front of her. She was taking small bites with her head down, and her eating manners were surprisingly refined.
Lu Siye took a bite of meat, chewed a few times, and suddenly realized that Xiang Dingkun wasn't eating anything.
He held the bowl and looked at Lu Siye.
It wasn't the kind of casual glance.
It was the kind of staring that made her gaze fixed on Lu Siye's face, and she didn't look away for a long time.
His eyes looked a little strange.
Lu Siye felt a little uneasy under his gaze.
He put down the meat in his hand, wiped his mouth, and forced a smile.
"Uncle, although I look handsome, my sexual orientation is perfectly normal," he said, trying to sound as relaxed as possible. "Don't you dare try anything with me."
Xiang Dingkun was taken aback.
Then he coughed twice, and the expression on his face became a little subtle.
"What kind of woman haven't I seen?" he said, his voice muffled, as if he'd choked on something. "Men too... I've dabbled in that as well."
Lu Siye's smile froze on his face.
"But I still have my principles."
Xiang Dingkun added, picked up the bowl, took a sip of water, and suppressed the feeling of choking.
He put down the bowl and looked at Lu Siye again, his gaze deeper than before.
"I was just looking at you, and it reminded me of someone from the past."
Lu Siye slowed down his chewing.
"Old friend?"
Xiang Dingkun did not answer immediately.
He handed the remaining meat to Feifei, who opened her mouth to take it, then ran off to eat it.
He patted the crumbs off his hands, stood up, and looked down at Lu Siye, who was still sitting on the threshold.
Sunlight shone from behind him, casting his face in shadow and obscuring his expression.
"It's getting late," he said. "You should leave."
Lu Siye was stunned.
"What?"
"Leave," Xiang Dingkun said. "Pack your things and go."
Lu Siye sat there, without making a move.
He doesn't understand.
Leaving? Where to? Why leave?
He looked up and stared at Xiang Dingkun's face.
The sunlight shone from behind, and most of the face was in shadow, but he could see the eyes.
Very peaceful.
But Lu Siye had a vague idea of what was going on.
He didn't ask any further questions.
He put down the meat in his hand, stood up, and went inside.
There aren't many items.
He had a change of clothes, an old coat that Xiang Dingkun had given him before, a pair of straw sandals, and a cell phone.
He stuffed these things into a cloth bag, tied it in a knot, and turned to leave.
When he reached the door, he stopped and looked back.
The cabin wasn't big; it contained a bed, a table, and a chair.
On the table was the bowl from which he had taken his medicine, with brown medicine stains still remaining at the bottom.
On the windowsill sat Xiang Dingkun's pipe, next to a small pile of uncollected cigarette ash.
He lived in that place for almost two months.
Now it's time to leave.
He went outside and saw Xiang Dingkun still standing in the courtyard.
Feifei squatted at his feet, her tail curled up, looking up at him.
Dark clouds began to gather over the distant sea.
It didn't drift over slowly; it appeared suddenly, as if something rose from the seabed and darkened the sky.
The clouds were thick and low, with dark red light swirling around their edges.
The thunder came from a great distance, muffled and heavy.
Looking at the dark cloud, Lu Siye suddenly felt a strange, indescribable feeling welling up inside him.
It's not fear.
It was a kind of... He knew what it was.
"Uncle Xiang," he said, "let's go together."
Xiang Dingkun shook his head.
He didn't look at Lu Siye; his gaze was fixed on the dark cloud, and he squinted.
"You go your way," he said. "I'll stop them for you."
Lu Siye stood in the courtyard, holding the strap of a cloth bag in his hand.
What does he want to say?
I want to ask why, I want to ask why you, who are not related to me, are stopping me.
I mean, how could you possibly stop them all by yourself?
But as he looked at Xiang Dingkun's retreating figure, he suddenly found himself speechless.
That figure had a very straight back.
It's not the kind of straightness that's forced; it's the kind of straightness that's naturally meant to be.
Like an old tree, its roots are firmly planted in the ground, unmoved by the wind or knocked down by the rain.
Feifei ran over from Xiang Dingkun's feet, climbed up Lu Siye's trouser leg, and squatted on his shoulder.
Its body was trembling, but it didn't turn around to look at Xiang Dingkun. Instead, it buried its head in Lu Siye's neck and curled up into a ball.
Lu Siye took a deep breath.
He turned around, activated Moon Chase, and ran in the opposite direction from the sea.
The primordial energy surged from the dantian, flowing into the legs and erupting instantly.
His body lunged forward, each step covering three or four meters.
He was not very stable when he landed, but instead of stopping to adjust, he used the momentum to rush forward.
One step. Two steps. Three steps.
The ground beneath my feet changed from the bluestone slabs of the courtyard to the gravel on the mountain path, the gravel to the soil, and the soil to the grass.
He ran very fast, so fast that the wind whistled past his ears.
He dared not stop.
It's not that I'm afraid of being caught up.
I'm afraid that if I stop, I'll turn back.
Feifei perched on his shoulder, her paws gripping his clothes tightly, her body bouncing up and down as he ran.
It didn't make a sound, it just buried its head a little deeper.
After running for about a mile, Lu Siye suddenly sensed something behind him.
It wasn't sound, it wasn't light, it was a kind of... vibration.
It was coming from the ground; it was very faint, but he could feel it.
Then a gust of wind blew from behind, carrying the salty, fishy smell of the sea and a burnt smell.
He paused, almost falling.
He didn't turn around.
Gritting his teeth, he kept running forward.
Xiang Dingkun stood in the courtyard, watching the dark clouds on the sea getting closer and closer.
Five dark figures descended from the clouds and landed on the sea, stepping on the waves as steadily as if they were on flat ground.
They walked across the sea, step by step, unhurriedly.
Five figures, tall and short, fat and thin.
Xiang Dingkun looked at them, his gaze sweeping from the first to the last, and then back from the last to the first.
His expression didn't change much.
The five things stopped outside the courtyard.
The tall, thin man tilted his head, as if he were sizing up Xiang Dingkun.
There was no sign, no sound.
One second it was standing outside the yard, the next second its hand was already stuck in Xiang Dingkun's left shoulder.
Xiang Dingkun did not dodge.
It's not that I didn't want to dodge, it's that there was simply no time to dodge.
He felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder.
The hand pierced through his shoulder from the front and emerged from behind, black blood dripping from its fingers.
He glanced down, then raised his right hand and slapped Gao Shouling on the chest.
A yellowish-brown light shone in his palm.
With a bang, the tall, thin man was knocked back several steps.
Its hand was pulled out of Xiang Dingkun's shoulder, bringing with it a spray of black blood.
Xiang Dingkun swayed, but did not fall.
He took a step back to steady himself.
My left shoulder is ruined.
His arm hung limply at his side, like a puppet with its strings cut, completely powerless.
Blood gushed from the wound, dripping from his fingertips onto the ground, quickly forming a small puddle.
The other four zeros remained unchanged.
They stood still and watched, as if they were watching a performance.
The tall, thin man tilted his head, as if judging something.
Then it acted again.
This time, Xiang Dingkun saw things clearly.
It's fast, but not so fast as to be invisible.
He could see its movements, the angle at which it attacked, and its target: its right shoulder.
He dodged to the side, but the injury to his left shoulder hampered his balance.
The tall, thin hand brushed past his right arm, tearing open a gash, the flesh rolled back to reveal the bone underneath.
Xiang Dingkun gritted his teeth, gathered a ball of vital energy in his right hand, and blasted it towards the tall, thin man's face.
The primordial energy bullet hit its target.
The tall, thin man tilted his head back slightly, and his body swayed as well.
But it quickly regained its composure, lowered its head, and faced Xiang Dingkun with its featureless face.
It raised its hand, fingers spread, aiming at Xiang Dingkun's chest.
Purple light gathered in its palm, growing brighter and stronger.
Xiang Dingkun had no time to dodge.
Purple light shot out from the palm of the tall, thin man and pierced through his right chest.
His body flew backward and crashed into the courtyard wall, which collapsed halfway down, burying him in the debris.
After the dust settled, Xiang Dingkun struggled to his feet from the ruins.
He knelt on the ground, unable to use his arms.
His left shoulder was pierced and his right chest was pierced. Blood gushed out from both wounds at the same time, staining the broken bricks beneath him black.
But he remained kneeling.
It didn't fall over.
The tall, thin man stood in front of him, looking down at him.
The other four zeros also surrounded him, and five dark figures encircled him in the middle.
Tall and thin, he stretched out his hand, fingers spread, and aimed it at Xiang Dingkun's forehead.
The black light began to gather again.
But this time it wasn't an attack.
It is trying to convert him into zero.
Xiang Dingkun raised his head and looked at the hand that was getting closer and closer.
He smiled.
He twitched the corner of his mouth, letting out a cold smile.
Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth and dripped down his chin, but his smile was genuine, not a bitter smile, not a miserable smile, but a real smile.
"Tell Fake Leaf."
He said his voice was very soft, but every word was very clear.
The tall, thin man paused for a moment.
"As long as darkness remains, the Xia Lan will live on forever."
Xiang Dingkun's voice suddenly grew louder, so loud that it didn't sound like it was coming from the mouth of a dying man.
His body began to glow, a yellowish-brown light shining through his skin, growing brighter and brighter.
The tall, thin man withdrew his hand.
It realized something and took a step back.
But it was too late.
"Earthly Kun: Gathering soil to form mountains."
Xiang Dingkun's body began to shatter in the light.
It wasn't an explosion, it shattered.
Like a stone that has been weathered for thousands of years, it finally couldn't bear it anymore and collapsed from the inside out.
Each fragment turned into an earthy yellow light, and each ray of light stirred up the wind.
The wind carried sand, soil, broken bricks, and tiles.
The ground in the entire courtyard was shaking, cracking, and surging upwards.
Earth and rocks gathered from all directions, forming a torrent that enveloped the five zeros in the middle.
The tall, thin man tried to break free, but the earth and rocks seemed to be alive, piling up layer by layer and pressing inward layer by layer.
The other four were buried at the bottom, letting out sharp screams, but their voices were quickly swallowed up by the earth and rocks.
The light grew brighter and brighter, becoming increasingly dazzling.
then……
Everything fell silent.
The wind stopped, the light went out, and the vibration ceased.
There was nothing left in the yard.
Where Xiang Dingkun had stood, only broken bricks and tiles and a few black bloodstains remained.
Most of the courtyard wall collapsed, and the osmanthus tree was uprooted and fell to the ground, its branches and leaves scattered all over the ground.
Those five zeros are gone too.
They weren't wiped out.
They are trapped.
Below that suddenly appearing earthen hill.
The earthen mound is not high, only three or four meters high, but it is very wide, almost covering the entire courtyard.
The dark clouds over the sea began to disperse.
The thunder grew fainter and fainter until it disappeared on the other side of the horizon.
The sunlight shone down again, shining on the earthen hill, on the collapsed courtyard wall, and on the scattered osmanthus petals.
There's nothing left.
Xiang Dingkun.
cabin.
They're all gone.
Lu Siye didn't know how long he had been running.
His legs were already weak, and his vital energy had long been exhausted. He was only moving forward by inertia.
He can no longer use Moon Chase; he's just running normally now, even slower than the average person.
Feifei was asleep, nestled on his shoulder.
The little creature's body swayed with his steps, but its claws clung tightly to his clothes, refusing to let go.
He glanced back.
The sea level is no longer visible.
Behind me stretched a continuous range of mountains, one after another. The farthest peak had turned a pale blue-green, blending into the sky, making it impossible to distinguish where the mountain ended and the sky began.
Too far.
I can't see anything.
He turned back and continued running.
My legs felt heavier and heavier, my breathing became more and more labored, and my chest felt like it was stuffed with cotton, requiring a great deal of effort to take each breath.
But he dared not stop.
It's not that I'm afraid of being caught up.
He knew that if those five things caught up with him, it wouldn't matter how fast he ran.
He stopped because he simply couldn't run anymore.
His legs gave way and he knelt on the ground, his hands braced in the mud, panting heavily.
Sweat dripped from his forehead, onto the back of his hand, onto the ground, and spread into a small dark patch.
Feifei was jolted awake. She peeked out from his shoulder, looked around, and then shrank back down.
Lu Siye knelt there, panting for a long time.
He raised his head and looked ahead.
In the distance, the outlines of some houses can be seen.
Grayish-white, short, scattered across a flat area.
Smoke rose up, thin and curved, and was dispersed by the wind.
town.
A few kilometers to go.
He propped himself up and continued walking forward.
He walked very slowly, slower than walking, but he was moving.
After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped.
He touched his chest.
There was an empty space there.
It's not an emptiness in the body, but an emptiness in the heart.
It's like something was dug out, leaving a hole. The wind blows in through that hole, it's chilly, and it can never be filled.
He stood there, looking ahead, without turning around.
Feifei moved on his shoulder, pressed her little head against his neck, and made a very soft sound.
Lu Siye took a deep breath and continued walking forward.